March 28 Sermon: In the Name of the Lord
Think on these questions after you listen to this Palm Sunday message on Mark 11:1-11:
1. How does Pastor Mark draw parallels between the extraordinary welcome Jesus receives during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and other celebrated arrivals, such as championship-winning sports teams? What significance does this comparison hold in understanding the context of Jesus' arrival?
2. In what ways does Jesus' deliberate actions, such as instructing his disciples to fetch a colt and entering the temple, demonstrate his divine knowledge and sovereignty over the unfolding events? How does this emphasize that Jesus is not merely a passive participant, but the orchestrator of his own path?
3. The people's exclamation of "Hosanna" and their expectation of Jesus as a conquering king reveal a certain misunderstanding of Jesus' ultimate mission. How does this demonstrate the contrast between the earthly expectations of the people and Jesus' true purpose, which is focused on conquering sin and death? How can we apply this lesson to our own expectations of God's work in our lives?
Transcript:
We are familiar with the idea of a celebrated arrival. We see the celebrations that occur when a sports team with a championship and they are greeted with fanfare as they come back into town. In recent memory our stellar girls softball team has returned to town with the trophy and if you were living under a rock and didn’t know that they had persevered in their final game of the year you would think that the town was on fire or something. People moving around, sirens blaring, and horns honking. It isn’t every day you see high school girls riding around on a fire truck, right? From a time of less recent memory some of your remember the return of the state basketball team in 1960. While not many of us may remember the event, we’ve all seen the pictures of people packing the streets as the team returned from their triumphant victory.
The scale of these types of celebrations only amplifies with the size of the city, the importance of the championship, and the length of the championship drought the city has experienced. I remember seeing on TV the full streets and ticker tape parades when the New York Yankees unfortunately win a world series. I especially remember 2016 when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA title and ended a more than 40 year championship drought for their city. People were stacked on top of each other for the parade and people climbed onto a lot of places where people don’t belong just to get a better view of the celebratory parade.
As we head toward Easter we find ourselves here on Palm Sunday as we recall the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Jesus is arriving and he receives the welcome of a conquering king but as we land in this passage today we do so with a sense of gravity, right? We know the rest of the story. We know the path that Jesus is on. Yes, he will be glorified in his resurrection and ascension but the path to that glorification goes through the cross.
As we come to the 11th chapter of Mark’s gospel we find a concise and pointed telling of the events. As we go through this passage this morning we are going to do what we always do. We are going to break it down into three main points.
The first thing that we are going to see is that Jesus ordains his path to Jerusalem. He knows what he has come to Jerusalem to do. As I said before we know how the story goes. If we go back into the gospel of Mark we find that Jesus has been talking about how he is going to suffer and die but the disciples don’t seem to understand what Jesus is very clearly telling them. As Jesus arrives we see that there are specific details that he knows and puts in place and these things unfold just as he says they would.
Secondly, we find that the people greet Jesus with an extraordinary welcome. Jesus is treated as a conquering king and the people clearly have the expectation that this is the type of mission that Jesus is on. They have an expectation of him taking the throne of David. As I think I say every year on Palm Sunday. The people are expecting a king who will give the Romans the boot but Jesus is more concerned with conquering sin, death, hell, and the devil than he is with conquering the Roman establishment.
Finally, we see that Jesus is prepared for the path that is before him. When he arrives he doesn’t go to the seat of governmental power. Instead he goes to the temple and takes a look at everything. We’ve seen in the book of Hebrews recently how Jesus fulfilled what occurs in the temple. Essentially the work he is about to do is not to overthrow Rome but to fulfill the work of the temple and overthrow that religious system with his sacrificial death.
Now, we are pretty familiar with the story of the triumphal entry aren’t we. It is an annual celebration for us but here in the book of Mark it is a build up. In the gospel of Mark it is emphasized that Jesus has been primarily out in the fringes of the region. He is around in areas that are not considered to be a part of the city of Jerusalem. If you have been listening or watching the Dwell in the Word posts I started several weeks ago working through the gospel of Mark you have seen this. In the gospel of Mark there is this idea that he is out teaching in relatively remote areas but still the popularity of Jesus continues to grow and even though he wants the truth of his mission to be a secret, it really can’t be hidden. People see the miracles of Jesus and they know there is something special here. You don’t feed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish and not have people suspect you are something special. You don’t have someone be healed by simply touching your garment and people think it’s no big deal.
And so as you progress through the gospel of Mark you feel a tension that things are moving towards a conflict. Jesus is popular with the people but the Pharisees and the religious establishment aren’t fans. And so as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem his popularity with the people is in tension with his lack of popularity with the Pharisees.
But we see that everything that is going to transpire is going to happen according to the plan of Jesus. As they draw near to Jerusalem we find Jesus sending his disciples out to get him a colt. This is one of those stories where I find the details sort of humorous. You’ve likely been sent on an errand you weren’t too wild about. Someone gives you instructions that maybe confuse you a little and you’re quite nervous about doing it right. I can imagine there was some of this going on with the disciples tasked with this assignment. You want us to do what now Jesus? We’re just supposed to take a colt that’s been tied up? Can we do that? Can’t we just get one from Enterprise Rent-a-Colt?
But Jesus clearly has a purpose for this and we read about that in our Old Testament passage this morning. The messiah is to come in this manner and the underlying idea with these instructions is that Jesus has divine knowledge. he knows what is going to happen. He is on mission. What is about to happen is not off script and isn’t going to catch Jesus off guard. These details here let us know that no matter what is going down in the next few days it is the sovereign plan of the almighty.
And this isn’t just made evident to us in Jesus claiming this knowledge. The whole thing transpires as Jesus says and the plan continues to unfold as the disciples bring the colt to Jesus.
And with this plan in motion we also move on to our second point as we see that Jesus is greeted with an extraordinary welcome.
As I’ve said we are really familiar with this story but it is important for us to understand why the people are doing this.
This is not a random welcome Jesus is receiving. To put their cloaks on the road is to receive a royal welcome. The palm branches are calling back to the past reception of a conquering hero returning to Jerusalem. In the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament there was a military insurrection that drove an invading empire from Jerusalem. After the victory, the conquering heroes were greeted by the people who came out waving palm branches. The people who came to greet Jesus knew this story very well. In fact, Jewish people still know it very well, as that military victory is what is celebrated at Hanukkah. So, the grabbing of the palm branches wasn’t a random act. They were anticipating that this Jesus who was entering the city was going to be the next one to drive an invading nation out and they were making this clear with this celebration. What we see here in our text is not some sort of praise service. It is a call for a revolution and they fully expect to get it.
And this idea is shown to us in the words that the people shouting. Hosanna. This word just sounds like a praise word to us but it actually is a desperate cry to be rescued. it isn’t just a call to be saved. Hosanna means save us NOW. And the people are quoting from a messianic Psalm. Remember the people are expecting a Messiah. They know the story of the Old Testament well. They also know from the prophecies of Daniel that they are living in the general time frame that the Messiah is expected to arrive. This repetition of a messianic Psalm tells us that they have an expectation that Jesus is the guy.
And I need to remind you, as I do every Palm Sunday, they are not saying “save us now” because they expect the messiah to come and rescue them from sin, death, hell, and the devil. They are expecting an earthly king who throws out the Romans. We read the words in this passage and we might even get some warm, sentimental feelings. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. What do our minds naturally go to? Jesus is the messiah, the rightful heir of David who will reign on his throne forever. In him we have forgiveness of sins and the sure and certain promise of eternal life. Not at all what these people were expecting. They were after an earthly kingdom where the Romans are gone and Herod is gone and a true descendant of David is ruling over them.
But there is something that we need to remember here. Their perspective was off but the praise they were giving Jesus was correct. He is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. He is the true descendant of David that God has ordained to be on the throne forever. In the gospels, but especially in Mark, there is this idea of what we call the messianic secret. We see who Jesus truly is through his miracles and teaching with authority but he doesn’t want people to know. He tells people not to tell others who he is. As the people praise Jesus this day the secrecy is over. The mask has been removed and Jesus is letting people know who he is. While they have incorrect assumptions regarding what the work of the Messiah will be, they have accurately identified who he is. This is why Jesus receives an extraordinary welcome. He deserves one and while the people that day did not worship him for what he was going to do, we know who he is and what he has done. Jesus would not be distracted by the desires of the people for political conquest. Instead, he is on mission and as we move on to our final point today we find that Jesus is prepared for the path that is before him.
We see that he is prepared for the path before him by the path he takes in Jerusalem. He doesn’t go to the seat of political power when he arrives in Jerusalem. Instead, he goes to the temple. He goes to the seat of the sacrificial system. It was in the temple that the sacrifices were received for the sins of the people. Now, as a discerning reader you might catch something in this verse. As we’ve been in Hebrews and talking about the holy place and the most holy place I said multiple times that only Levites went into the temple. Here it says that Jesus went into the temple and he wasn’t a Levite. Well, I wasn’t lying to you. When it says that Jesus went into the temple it means that he was in the outer court. The best way for us to understand it is if you told someone you were coming to the church but you were just meeting someone out in the yard or you may go into the entry or the fellowship hall but you didn’t come here into the worship space.
The idea is that Jesus goes to the area around the temple and surveys everything. What would he have seen? Money changers, people bringing animals for sacrifice, and people performing their religious duties. Now, remember, he’s been here before this isn’t like you or I taking in something we’ve only heard of or seen on TV in person for the first time. This is is Jesus coming and seeing the whole system. As he looks upon it, what does he find? Is the system in place truly giving the people a clear conscience before God? Is it providing them a once and for all satisfaction for sin? Is it causing people to worship God in Spirit and in truth or are they just following the religious system?
We know the answer. As I’ve mentioned multiple times think back to what we’ve seen in the book of Hebrews. What occurred in the temple was only pointing forward to what Jesus was going to accomplish for his people. Now, we can’t know exactly what Jesus was thinking as he surveyed the temple mount but as the sovereign Lord of history he knew that he was going to fulfill what the temple required with the sacrifice that was going to occur on Good Friday.
And ultimately, his focus and willingness to be on mission is going to lead to Good Friday. Remember what the people wanted? They wanted political revolution and he wasn’t going to provide it for him. We wonder how we go from the triumphal entry to Good Friday but we stop and think it is actually pretty easy. The religious leaders already don’t like Jesus and without a political revolution the people will stop their support. We find that Jesus is betrayed not only by the masses and the religious establishment. He is betrayed by one of his own disciples.
In fact, the one who will betray him is among the twelve who go out with him to Bethany. During this week Jesus will be in Jerusalem but they stay at a short distance in Bethany, perhaps with their good friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. While these 12 disciples should be the ones who support him in what is to come we find out later this week that Jesus even those who should be loyal are not. The true king of the universe, who is the promised messiah, is praised on Sunday but by Friday is jeered and the masses call for the life of a known murderer in Barabbas instead of letting Jesus go. The twelve who he is closest with should be his protectors and his friends but one betrays him and the others run away.
What a path for the messiah and the Lord of glory to be on but even knowing this path Jesus stayed on mission and he did it for you.
And so as we wrap up today I want us to contemplate these things as we come away with our two applications this morning.
The first thing I want us to see is that we are called to worship the savior. The people in Jerusalem that day were singing hosanna’s and praises to Jesus but they were not worshiping Jesus because he was the savior of their souls. They were worshiping him for what they believed he would do for them and it was short sighted and it was earthly. It is easy for us to call out to God asking for the things of this life that we want. It is another thing to be content with what God has given you and what God has given us is what we truly needed. The people on Palm Sunday thought their greatest need was overthrowing the Romans but their true greatest need was salvation from sin and death. May we look past the temporary and the earthly and worship God in Spirit and in truth for the true salvation that he has so graciously blessed us with.
And as we journey towards Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter it is that salvation that is in view for us. And with the path that we know Jesus willingly took for us the challenge for us is to pursue the path that he has put on us. The work of Jesus that we remember this week was to bring the people of God to himself. That work draws us near to him and it is how we are saved by his merciful grace. That grace puts us on a path that is ordained by God. That path is growth in that grace and holiness. This week as you remember the path that Jesus took I want to challenge us to think about what his path for us looks like. As the covenant people of God we are called to obedience and holiness. What does that look like for you? What areas of your life do you need to submit to God and rest on his grace? How can your family pursue the path that God has called you to? As you recollect the path that Jesus took into Jerusalem to suffer, die, and rise again consider what it means for you and remember the path that he has called his people to.
And may the Holy Spirit be at work in you today and every day that our paths might bring glory to Christ for who he is and what he has done.
